Tell Your Boss: March Madness May Make Us MORE Productive at Work

Next time your boss catches you checking your bracket today (that is if it's not already 100 percent busted -- thanks, Florida Gulf Coast), respond with this little factoid: Focusing on the NCAA tournament during work hours may actually make you more productive in the long run. At least that's what some experts say!

According to a recent survey by online staffing service OfficeTeam — and this pretty adorable infographic by TurboTax — 17 percent of employees spend more than an hour checking scores or watching basketball games during the workday. The good news is that 75 percent of office managers believe that the tourney has no impact on worker productivity — while 16 and 21 percent, respectively, actually think that it can boost employee output and morale!

“Employees need a chance to bond with coworkers over shared interests,” says an OfficeTeam executive quoted in the survey; therefore, chatting about your wins and losses around the water cooler can actually “provide a channel for team building.”

Plus, so many of us no longer work traditional, “9-to-5″ jobs — we take our work home with us and we’re available 24/7 on our smartphones. That’s why, according to this ABC News article, more bosses may be lenient about b-ball on company time: They know we’re going to make it up later, so they’re okay with letting it slide during the day.

And one more thing: Everyone is going to slack off at work in one way or another, author Tom Lutz told ABC News, whether it’s daydreaming or online shopping or watching sports or, ahem, reading this blog; it’s just the way our brains work. But slacking off can be a great motivator to eventually get things done and meet our deadlines, too, he says — and in that sense, time and productivity isn’t really lost. So go ahead, check out those scores … and then get back to work!